Is It Allowed to Obtain Social Benefits Illegally?
29 July, 2021
QAs-salamu `alaykum. Please help me with regard to my very sensitive question. I am currently jobless. The government here in France pays social benefits for the people who left their work or those who are jobless an amount of money until they find work. Every month, the concerned authorities send a bill for the person to sign so that the money can be claimed. The problem is that I got an offer to work in an Islamic school on weekends, and I will receive money in return. Is it permissible for me to work in that Islamic school on weekends without informing the government in order to receive the unemployment allowances?
ANSWER
Sheikh Faysal Mawlawi
29 July, 2021
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
You should inform the concerned authorities about the additional salary you are going to obtain from the new job before receiving the governmental social benefits.
In his response to the question, Dr. `Ali Muhyy Ed-Deen Al-Qara Daaghi, Head of the Department of Principles Jurisprudence (Usul Al-Fiqh) at the Faculty of Shari`ah, Qatar University, states:
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It is better for the Muslim to be active and to search for lawful means in earning his living. We cannot wait aimlessly for our states to help us. We should work and search for a decent way to earn a living.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught his Companions that the whole of a human being’s dignity is tied up with his work—any sort of work —and that real disgrace and humiliation lie in depending on other people’s help.
He is reported to have said: “It is better that a person should take a rope and bring a bundle of wood on his back to sell so that Allah may preserve his honor, that’s better for him than begging from people, (regardless of) whether they give him or not.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
It is unlawful for the Muslim to act in contrary to the stated laws that regulate people’s affairs in the non-Muslim country where he/she lives as long as those laws do not contradict the texts of Shari`ah.
Brother, for you not to violate the laws of your country, you should inform concerned authorities about the additional salary you are going to obtain from the new job.
What I want to stress here is that the Muslims should stick to the high morals of Islam, especially while residing in non-Muslim countries. Muslims’ showing compliance to the laws in those countries will indirectly entice others to Islam by demonstrating its noble manners. Such demonstration reflect the true teachings of Islam, and rectify its distorted image in the Western media.
Moreover, Sheikh Faysal Mawlawi, the late deputy chairman of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, adds:
It’s incumbent upon Muslims living in non-Muslim countries to respect the laws of those countries as long as those laws do not contradict the teachings of Islam. Thus, it’s unbecoming for Muslims to resort to practices, such as the one you referred to in your question, that are deemed unlawful in those countries.
Is Commodity Trading via the Internet Permissible?
28 July, 2021
QAs-salamu `alaykum. I would like to know whether trading of commodities such as wheat, rice, soybean, gold, silver, crude oil, etc. via the Internet or online trading services is halal or haram. Is the ruling different whether the trade is done through a brokerage house or self-trading?
ANSWER
Prof. Dr. Monzer Kahf
28 July, 2021
Wa `alaykum as-salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
Future commodity trading is not allowed in Islam, whereas spot commodity trading is permissible either delivering in on the spot or guaranteed in the very near future.
In his response to your question, Prof. Dr. Monzer Kahf, Professor of Islamic Finance and Economics at Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, states:
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Commodity trading may be either spot or future. Future commodity trading is not permissible on the ground that both payment of the price and delivery of the commodity are deferred. This is not permitted in the Shari`ah as the Prophet (peace be upon him) prohibited the sale of deferred (commodity) for a deferred (price).
The OIC Islamic Fiqh Academy also ruled against such a transaction in its Seventh Annual Full Meeting 1412 A.H./1992 (Resolution No.63/1/7).
Spot trading is trading, with delivery and payment within three days, of commodities that either exist in the hands of the seller or that are described and can be obtained immediately by the seller under the guarantee of the exchange management.
Spot trading is permissible (the same Islamic Fiqh Academy’s resolution mentioned above) as long as the availability of delivery and payment are within the spot period, i.e., three days.
This is based on the ground that the period of three days is considered similar to delivery and payment at the time of the contract.
It does not matter whether trading is done through a brokerage house, directly by a trader who works for her/himself, or via the Internet.
It must be noted also that trading of currencies, gold, and silver is permissible by spot only, and if there is any time span between the contract and delivery of both or either price or purchased gold, silver or currencies, it enters under the domain of riba that is very strongly prohibited in the Shari’ah.